Tell Me About Granite

Northbay Stone Works is a Marin based company specializing in stone fabrication and
installation. We have successful history of providing services for both new and commercial
construction with granite and quartzite as well as in home renovations for kitchen, bathrooms
and fireplaces.

Granite is an igneous rock and is formed from magma.Granite is a common and widely
occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granites can have small, medium to large
course grained texture. Granites can be pink to dark grey or even black, depending on their
chemistry and mineralogy. True granite according to modern petrologic convention contains
quartz and both plagioclase and alkali feldspars, as well as both muscovite and or biotite micas.
When granite contains both micas it is called a binary or a two-mica granite.

Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted
into quartzite through heat and pressure. Pure quartzite is usually white to grey, quartzites often
occur in various vibrant shades of pink, red, blue and green due to varying amounts of iron
oxide and other trace resistant minerals. Quartzite is very resistant to common house hold and
kitchen products and performs similar to granite.

Granite and quartzite are always hard and tough, and therefore have gained widespread use as
a construction stone. Due to the mineral groups of granite and quartzite, Northbay Stone Works
can with confidence recommend the suitably of these stones for use in your kitchen and bath
countertops. Unlike the calcite mineral groups of marble and limestone, etching will not occur
in granite or quartzite.

In the past ten years, Northbay Stone Works has seen a growing market for honed granite
kitchen countertops. The honing process produces a fine smooth matt finish for your granite
countertop. The surface wear from daily kitchen countertop usage can be minimized when the
surface is honed. Honing does not affect the performance or porosity of the granite. All granite
and quartzites must be sealed.